Seeing the blue skies and vast fields with fresh new eyes was Ms Nottingham's inspiration in her current exhibition at the Japanese Gardens and Cultural Centre at Cowra.

Ms Nottingham said it was not until revisiting Europe late last year that she really began to think about how amazing and lovely the region is.

"And yet in the media and the talk in and about small regional towns is often about the drought, how the future is gloomy with global warming, populations decreasing, empty shopfronts, limited opportunities," she said.

"It is easy to feel that there are oh so many negatives. But it is not always true.You can re-frame things, and see things in a positive way. The natural beauty, the change of seasons, the quality of the light, the big skies, the space to breathe and see for miles is awesome. I wanted to show that this side of the central west, to embrace it, celebrate it and not take it for granted. Remind myself of how lucky I am."

The concept for the exhibition first started about a year ago, and about six months ago Ms Nottingham started writing down ideas, sketching, plus taking and editing photos.

"The works on display were created from then, right up to a few weeks ago. Some came quite quickly, others took days and days. The acrylics and canvas works were challenging for me, as I am normally a watercolourist," she explained.

"Acrylic is a completely different way of working. I have much to learn, but that is always the way with art, you can never know everything."

The exhibition is titled 'It's lovely here' and was actually an exclamation made by their Japanese billet.

During the billet's stay, the Cowra family took her out on drives, to expose her to the beauty of the central west where she said 'It's lovely here.' and so the name stuck.

Drives included a trip to Bathurst to see snow, plus to Grenfell, the Weddin Mountains National park and Ben Hall's Cave.

Ms Nottingham said the billet could not believe how expansive the land around her was, and how different it is to her hometown of Tokyo,

"She was also blown away that only a week apart, you could not get two different types of weekends. From moody gloomy snowy skies, to big blue skies and sun shining," she added.

Ms Nottingham said the feedback has been positive, with many finding the work uplifting

"I used to think art needed to be conceptual, and have deep meaning behind it, and felt that happy art was somehow less worthy," she said.

"Well, as I have gotten older, I have changed my mind, and have realised that there is nothing wrong with art that makes people feel good."